Digvijaya dares govt to show how prison cell locks are opened with toothbrushes

Former chief minister and Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday rubbished the MP police’s claim that eight SIMI operatives escaped from the Bhopal jail by unlocking their prison cells with duplicate keys made of toothbrushes.

Digvijaya Singh said the NIA should be asked to investigate the incident under the supervision of the high court. (HT file photo)

Former chief minister and Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday rubbished the MP police’s claim that eight SIMI operatives escaped from the Bhopal jail by unlocking their prison cells with duplicate keys made of toothbrushes.

Singh challenged the government to give a demo of the innovative way of opening the locks of prison cells even as his earlier remark on the encounter drew flak from chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

The Congress leader was responding to Bhopal inspector general of police Yogesh Choudhary’s claim that the undertrials who were killed in an alleged encounter on Monday had escaped from the jail by opening the locks of their cells with duplicate keys made with the help of toothbrushes, tongue cleaners and wood.

Singh said the NIA should be asked to investigate the incident under the supervision of the high court.

Reacting to Singh’s “why only Muslims brake out of jails” remark, Rudy called upon politicians to come clear on “whether they support martyrs or terrorists.” “I have information that certain prisoners belonging to communities other than Muslim escaped from the Alwar and the Chhitorgarh jails in Rajasthan.”

“We are of the view that in cases where a fake encounter is proved against policemen in a trial, they must be given death sentence, treating it as the rarest of rare cases. Fake ‘encounters’ are nothing but cold blooded, brutal murder by persons who are supposed to uphold the law...” his Facebook post read.